Shelves & Etageres (525)

A shelf, shelves or Shelving Unit, in its simplist form, most commonly a single board mounted on a wall. A shelf has come a long way from a simple single wall mount, all the way through its development as one of the largest pieces of furniture ever made, typified by the often enormous cabinets of architectural proportions used from the 17th century to recent times and which may be thought of as the direct ancestors of the modern entertainment center.

An étagère is a piece of light furniture very similar to the English what-not, which was extensively made in France during the latter part of the 18th century. As the name implies, it consists of a series of stages or shelves for the reception of ornaments or other small articles. Like the what-not it was very often cornerwise in shape.

A what-not is a piece of furniture derived from the French étagère, which was exceedingly popular in England in the first three-quarters of the 19th century. It usually consists of slender uprights or pillars, supporting a series of shelves for holding china, ornaments or trifles of any kind, hence the allusive name.